I know many people have been waiting for autopsy/necropsy/testing results regarding Eight Belles (it’s been the number one search term on this site for a few days now!); preliminary results didn’t show anything that we didn’t already know, namely that the filly fractured her two front cannon bones. Apparently there will be further testing, as well as screening for any substances such as steroids or other performance enhancing drugs.
Trainer Larry Jones also spoke out about the unfair accusations of Eight Belles’ jockey, Gabriel Saez, and her connections at the hands of PETA and several media outlets.
Trainer: Eight Belles was not on steroids
The trainer of Eight Belles is certain the filly was never on steroids, and has ordered tests to prove it.
Larry Jones said Tuesday he wanted to dispel any suggestion the Kentucky Derby runner-up was on performance-enhancing drugs. Eight Belles was euthanized after breaking both front ankles Saturday, a quarter-mile after the finish at Churchill Downs.
“I guarantee there were no steroids ever on the horse,” Jones said at a news conference at Delaware Park, site of the filly’s first win.
Eight Belles’ owner, Rick Porter, said the preliminary necropsy result showed the death came as a result of the fracture of the filly’s two front cannon bones.
Jones was adamant that the necropsy will show no use of performance enhancing drugs, and hoped it would uncover any previously undiscovered “soundness issues.”
Jones is still emotional about the loss of the horse three days after the Derby. He broke down three times during the 30-minute news conference while recalling the filly.
But the trainer’s voice rose when he said he was responding to unspecified criticism he heard on radio programs while returning from Kentucky to Delaware that his horse must have been on steroids because she was so large.
“We’re taking a lot of abuse out there. … We’re being accused of steroid abuse because she was so large,” he said. “I can tell you that Mr. Porter goes to the sale to look for good horses and that’s one of the things you look for - a horse that’s big enough, strong enough and fast enough to compete in big races.”
Jones said the last time he used steroids was in 1997, on a severely injured horse. He said, even then, he used just a fraction of the allowable amount of the drug.
The use of steroids is a hot-button issue in racing and there is a growing movement to crack down on the use of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
At this point, Derby horses aren’t tested for steroids. But that might soon change because of increased pressure from inside and outside the industry for racing to develop stricter drug regulations.
The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium is attempting to come up with uniform medication and drug testing rules nationwide. Yet even a model they have shown would allow vets to administer one of four anabolic steroids considered therapeutic in nature. But the horses won’t be allowed to race for at least 30 days after receiving the dosage.
In addition to defending his training methods, Jones again defended jockey Gabriel Saez’s ride of the Derby runner-up.
“People have been on him. It’s uncalled for. It’s unjust,” Jones said.
Saez’s agent, Ruben Munoz, said the 20-year-old jockey was shaken when he heard PETA was calling for his suspension.
“I explained to him that it was coming from animal activists and that he had been exonerated by the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority,” Munoz said.
Saez has not spoken publicly since the Derby, but has returned to riding. In fact, he won his first race at Delaware Park on Sunday by six lengths, had a first- and third-place finish Monday and a pair of seconds on Tuesday.
“This is the only thing that has moved him in the two years I’ve know him,” Munoz said. “Yes, he’s sad. Yes, he’s worried.”
Jones also took a swipe at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has said Saez should have known the horse was in trouble and that he went to the whip too often.
“I think that it is really and truly the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard of,” he said.
Jones said PETA is capitalizing on a sad situation.
“When this started I feel like maybe their heart was in the right place,” Jones said. “I think maybe they were generally concerned.”
Jones has changed his thinking and said PETA is using the incident to raise money.
“I hate the fact they are using this to be a fundraiser for them. They’re doing this for monetary purpose … They’re not in it for the good of anything. It’s strictly something to rally around, hoping they are raising funds from this, and I hate it.”
PETA spokeswoman Kathy Guillermo said the organization hasn’t done any specific fundraising based on Eight Belles.
“PETA is not making money on Eight Belles, Mr. Jones is,” Guillermo said. “Our concern was and is for the horses.”
Jones said he was looking to get past the death of Eight Belles, for himself and the sport of racing.
“I’m sorry that people have to feel that they have to point fingers and they have to look for the negative of this game,” Jones said. “I would like to bring closure to it. I don’t want people to think of racing as it being abusive.”
[source]
6 responses so far ↓
1 Ashleigh // May 7, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I dont think she was on any kind of drug and looking at the video she doesnt look like she had tripped just collapsed from exhaustion and ended up breaking her ankles during the fall. I believe that the race was too long and too grueling for her and she just couldnt do it. You had a choice between the Kentucky Derby and the Oaks. You should have entered her into the Oaks instead but you chose to enter her in a race that very few fillies can complete and take a chance of losing your horse..for money.
Thats all I have to say
2 Fancy // May 8, 2008 at 11:22 am
What breaks my heart is nobody was going to catch Big Brown but Eight Belles didn’t know that and literally raced herself to death. Who was watching out for her?
3 Linda // May 8, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Only a non-horseperson would make a negative statement like Ashleigh. Anyone that has ever owned a horse and had aspirations of being competetive with the horse guards them like they are precious gems. Horse people live and breathe for their horses. Eight Belles left this earth on the wings of Angels and all of us that loved her or for that fact ever saw her will never forget her. Thank you Larry and Rick for letting us have the opportunity to see the “one of a kind fillie” that Eight Belles was.
PETA would be better off focusing on people that don’t feed their animals - not the ones that love them!
4 Annie // May 9, 2008 at 5:24 pm
And you Linda are just offering up the same meaningless platitudes horse racing has been giving the public for years. This horse ran to her death because of what humans asked of her at too young an age and because of breeding decisions that are based on the almighty dollar, early precociousness and speed not the soundness and good conformation of the animal. Horses are not inherently fragile animals or they never would have evolved and been successfull on earth. Take a look at the legs of wild mustangs (which are still descdendants of domesticated horses from Europe) that have been shaped by their environment. A horse in its natural state is one of the most sure footed animals on the planet..
Take a look at the horses in Big Brown’s peidgree too. The last two or three generations are all lightly raced animals that eventually broke down and were retired (Boundary, Danzig) even though lightly raced just as he is. Bad feet in there too. Racings Royal Bloodlines leave something to be desired.
The American public needs to be woken up as to what really goes on in racing at this level if they even care. Perhaps there would be more of an outcry if some of the agonizing footage of Eight Belles that the network chose not to air would have been seen. We got a rather sanitized version of her breakdown which was bad enough, but did not see the footage of her writhing and screaming before they got to her and probably shot her up to her eyeballs in pain killers. And the pity is that this goes on and on every day in lesser known races yet racehorse owners and breeders still keep making the bad breeding decisions for these animals.
You can say horsemen love thier horses but not enough to start breeding sounder animals that don’t start racing careers until they are mature. No other venue of competition such as show jumping, steeplechase, polo, puts such young animals out there in such gruelling events. Even the track vet said on the KY Derby telecast that muscle fatigue on these horses puts a lot of stress on the skeleton. Perhaps he was trying to say something here to “horsemen” Like quit bulking up these young animals with muscle that their immature skeletons cannot support without great risk of breaking down.
5 mike // May 10, 2008 at 4:57 am
suspend a jockey for pushing his horse to win? yet we watch jockeys all year long hold back for a second place finish or worse. the whole industry needs to be investigated. where there is money you will find drugs and cheaters. (jose canseco and larry jones) the “thing”(eightbelles) didn’t even know she was hurting she was so drugged up . theres a reason people say they have never seen anything like this. how are they going to cover this up?
6 Nancy Petrillo // May 27, 2008 at 9:37 am
Eight Belles was a grand filly. She gave a great performance and that should not be taken away from her. She was lovely! She had a sweet and innocent look about her face. She appeared physically stong enough to run with the boys. I’ve looked at her conformation pictures and compared her pasterns and hoofs against models in a very good conformation book. I’m not an expert, but it appears that perhaps she inherited a conformation of her pasterns and heels that led to her disastrous injuries. So, bottom line is - the breeders are at fault by continually inbreeding sires with known conformation issues and passing along those potentially dangerous genetic traits.
God Bless Eight Belles - she was a heroine and will always be loved and remembered by thousands of us.